Unicorn Maintenance 101: Why Kristaps Porzingis Is Flexing for NY Knicks

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Kristaps Porzingis is adamant there's no secret behind the leap he's made this season from promising prospect to MVP-level stud. The highlight-reel full-court rim-runs, the Kobe Bryant-esque turnaround J's, the Hakeem Olajuwon-like shakes—all of it, Porzingis has repeatedly said, is thanks to an offseason spent beefing up his body, specifically his legs and core.

"My strength is helping my game a lot, just by giving me balance on all those shots," Porzingis told reporters earlier this month. "Even though a lot of those shots are contested, I'm able to make them through contact."

The muscles (which perhaps you heard about over the summer) have paid off in more subtle ways too. Defenders can no longer push him off his sweet spots. Porzingis has boosted his points per post possession from 0.81 to 1.06, placing him in the 79th percentile of the league, according to NBA.com's player tracking data.

Porzingis now springs off screens. Bumping him off the ball is no longer possible without hacking him. That's part of the reason he ranks in the league's top percentile in non-shooting fouls drawn, according to Cleaning the Glass (his improved acting skills have helped boost this number as well).

His stamina is improved, so he's not committing as many reach-in fouls. His base is sturdier, so he's not shoving opponents in an effort to regain position. He's committing one fewer foul per game than the 3.7 he averaged last year (the second-highest number in the league), so he's no longer spending spurts of action glued to the bench due to foul trouble.

"All that was missing [in his game beforehand] was the strength," said an Eastern Conference coach. "Stronger legs help his shooting, stronger core helps with balance and movement."

Enhanced muscle around his right ankle may have even helped him stave off a major injury Wednesday against the Miami Heat, when he suffered an ankle sprain.

But entering training camp with an Ivan Drago physique is one thing. Maintaining those muscle gains throughout a seven-month, 82-game slog of a season is another. Which raises the question: If the key to Porzingis' star turn is, as he and everyone in his circle swear, his newfound strength, then what happens when that strength dissipates as the season crawls along?

"You often see a loss of what was gained before the season, just because of the amount of games," Dr. Andy Barr, the Knicks' former director of performance and rehabilitation and the founder of Innovate Performance in Los Angeles, told B/R.

Porzingis is acutely aware of how fatigue can affect his health and his game. He says he lost five pounds last season and has seen his three-point percentage plummet during the second halves of each of his first two years (often a sign of tired legs), and he missed the final two weeks of both campaigns due to injury.

It's tricky to figure out methods to maintain strength while also not overtaxing the body. But it's a needle Porzingis needs to thread to keep the Knicks in the playoff hunt and, more importantly, fulfill his potential.

This is why the 22-year-old Porzingis, now in his third NBA season, returned from Latvia this summer with a new plan. Outlined with the help of his Spanish physiotherapist, Manolo Valdivieso, who this year joined Porzingis in New York, Porzingis has mostly eliminated individual skills drills and game-day warm-ups from his in-season regimen. Gone, for example, are the one-on-one battles with Knicks assistant coach Dave Bliss that were previously a staple of Porzingis' pregame routine.

"I'm putting in a lot less work on the basketball court, I'm working a lot less than [the] year before, trying to save my energy and put all my energy into the weight room and getting as much rest as possible,” Porzingis told reporters this week.

"That's the key for me: staying strong during the season. If I can maintain my body compact and stay strong, then all the physicality is not going to drain me as much."

And that's not easy. That's why he's decided to eschew some basketball work in favor of basic strength exercises.

"When you're lifting weight and doing strength work, you're not stressing the body like you are when playing a basketball game," Barr said. "Games have so much impact, there's a lot of jumping and landing, and there's also the mental aspect. All that stresses the body."

Which is why lifting weights, according to Barr, is exactly the type of exercise an NBA player should be performing on off days.

"It's low-impact and so you're still regenerating," Barr said. "When you do nothing, that's when you start to lose that muscle mass you gained over the offseason."

Based on what Porzingis has said, suffering these consequences would be a death blow to his new game. The good news for Knicks fans is that he seems aware of the potential pitfalls and is prepared to combat them. He's put himself in position to morph into the franchise player the Knicks so desperately need. All he has to do now is defeat the assassin that is the NBA's 82-game schedule.

Yaron Weitzman covers the Knicks and NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow Yaron on Twitter, @YaronWeitzman, and listen to his Knicks-themed podcast here.